A holiday for me always draws upon the nostalgic bank of memories of shared meals and comfort food. Easter is right around the corner and I find myself thinking of dyed eggs, chocolate bunnies, and ham. All those mornings of rummaging through baskets and ruining my breakfast with candy coated chocolate eggs and malted milk balls covered with bright pastels looking like the eggs of a robin. While the days of gorging on Easter candy before breakfast may be behind me now (mostly… 😉 ), there are still some family traditions that remain each year.
These days I can live without the chocolate bunnies and even the ham, but I can never skip my family’s Easter breakfast dish, Creamed Eggs on Toast. It was never a fancy Easter brunch we had, but it is always something I looked forward to each Easter. Every year as the holiday would approach, I would get excited and talk about how I couldn’t wait to eat it and every year I have been met with confused looks by my friends and acquaintances- even still today. It seems Creamed Eggs on Toast is not a commonly known or eaten dish, at least in my experience of talking it up. It has always surprised me so few have encountered this breakfast, when so many similar variations exist out there. I do not know of its origins, beyond that of grandparents on both sides making it for my parents as they were growing up and that it was something we ate at Easter, but it is something that stuck with me. This recipe is simple and delicious, and as my mom likes to add, “a great way to use up all those dyed eggs.” Perhaps using up all those dyed eggs is its origins after all…
More often than not, these foods that stick are the ones made simply with love and are shared with family and friends. While I may have taken the liberty to use some slightly different ingredients than that of my childhood version (a local bread for instance), the heart and soul remains. These are the types of food I love to share. So, extra dyed Easter eggs or not, I encourage you all to try out Creamed Eggs on Toast this Easter weekend. May you find it as comforting and delicious as I always do.
Creamed Eggs on Toast
Ingredients
- Eggs (leave in shells) 4 each
- Butter 1 tablespoon
- Flour 1 tablespoon
- Whole Milk 1 cup
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- White Bread, sliced 4 slices (or more, if your appetites are hearty!)
- Butter as needed, to butter toast
Directions
- Gather all your ingredients and measure them out.
- In a small sauce pan, place whole eggs in shell. Add cold water until your eggs are completely covered.
- Over high heat bring the eggs to a full rolling boil. As soon as the eggs come to a full rolling boil turn off the heat completely and put a lid on the saucepan.
- Set a timer for 13 to 15 minutes.
- When the timer is up, your eggs should be perfectly hard boiled! Using a strainer get eggs out of the hot water immediately. Place back in the saucepan and cover with cold water again, to stop the cooking process and to cool them enough to handle. You may need to repeat this process twice to cool them thoroughly.
- Once the eggs are cool enough to handle, peel off the shells and rinse the eggs well under cool water, as pieces of egg shell are not very tasty.
- Using a small cutting board and paring knife, dice the peeled eggs into small pieces. I like to separate the yolk and the white pieces from each other (but it isn’t necessary….my mom always just kept it all together). Set diced egg aside.
- Now to begin the cream sauce! In the small saucepan, add the butter and melt over medium heat.
- Once the butter has melted add the flour and whisk out any lumps. It should look like a thick paste or wet sand. This is the roux (pronounced “roo”) that will thicken the sauce. Reduce heat a little and cook for 3 to 5 minutes to get rid of raw flour taste, but develop a slightly nutty flavor. This is a basic white roux and can be used in many recipes. Be careful not to burn it.
- Whisk the milk into the roux in the saucepan. Allow to simmer, whisking constantly. As the sauce heats up, it will begin to thicken. Do this over a fairly low heat as to not scorch the milk and for a silky-smooth sauce at the end.
- While the sauce is simmering and thickening is the perfect time to start making your buttered toast.
- Once the cream sauce has thickened, it is time to add the diced eggs. If you kept the yolks separate, whisk them in first to produce a slightly yellow, velvety sauce then add in the diced whites. If you kept the egg bits all together, just add them all in at once. 🙂
- Add salt and black pepper to taste, as you’d like.
- Divide the creamed eggs over pieces of buttered toast you made while the sauce was thickening. Enjoy while hot. Happy Easter!
Curiosity Fed The Chef 